Global Unmployment Rate To Slip Lower Next Year, ILO says

The global unemployment rate will inch down to 5.7 percent in 2017 from 5.8 percent in 2014-16, helped by job creation in the U.S. and Europe, although a growing population means the total of number of unemployed people will rise, the International Labor Organization said a report. The ILO’s forecast for the unemployment rate to fall is more optimistic than it was a year ago, when the United Nations agency estimated it would remain at 5.9 percent from 2014 to 2017. Publishing its annual World Employment and Social Outlook report on Tuesday, the ILO also said the total number of unemployed people will top 200 million for the first time in 2017, up from 197.1 million in 2015 and its forecast for 199.4 million this year. The rise will come in developing and emerging countries such as Brazil, where the number of jobless will grow from 7.7 million to 8.4 million this year and next, and Russia and South Africa. All three are forecast to fare much worse than the expectation a year ago. The U.S. unemployment rate is forecast to fall from 5.3 percent in 2015 to 4.9 percent this year and 4.7 percent next year, partly because of job creation but also because of people giving up on looking for work.